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AICPA CPA-Business Exam - Topic 3 Question 60 Discussion

Actual exam question for AICPA's CPA-Business exam
Question #: 60
Topic #: 3
[All CPA-Business Questions]

Assume the following facts about Martin Corporation:

* The long-term debt was originally issued at par ($1,000/bond) and is currently trading at $1,250 per bond.

* Martin Corporation can now issue debt at 150 basis points over U.S. treasury bonds.

* The current risk-free rate (U.S. treasury bonds) is 7 percent.

* Martin's common stock is currently selling at $32 per share.

* The expected market return is currently 15 percent.

* The beta value for Martin is 1.25.

* Martin's effective corporate income tax rate is 40 percent.

Based on these assumptions, what is the current net after-tax cost of debt for Martin Corporation?

Show Suggested Answer Hide Answer
Suggested Answer: C

Choice 'c' is correct. 5.1 percent current net cost of debt.

The fact pattern states that debt can be currently secured at 150 basis points above the Treasury bond rate. A basis point is equal to 1/100 of 1% (1% of 1%).

Applying the decimals it's:

150 basis points x 1/100 of 1% (or .0001)

this yields .015 or 1.5%

Add the additional basis points converted to percentage (1.5%) to the Treasury bond rate of 7% to arrive at the pre-tax debt cost of 8.5%. Apply 1 - tax rate to arrive at the current net cost of debt as follows:


Contribute your Thoughts:

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Jerilyn
4 months ago
Totally agree, 5.5% makes sense with the tax rate factored in!
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Tegan
4 months ago
Wait, how can the cost of debt be lower than the risk-free rate?
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Laquita
4 months ago
Definitely going with option C, 5.1% seems right!
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Leslie
4 months ago
I think the after-tax cost of debt is around 5.5%.
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Alesia
4 months ago
The current risk-free rate is 7%.
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Raymon
5 months ago
I’m confused about how to apply the tax rate here. Is it just a straight subtraction from the interest rate? I hope I remember correctly!
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Caitlin
5 months ago
I practiced a similar question last week, and I think the effective tax rate really impacts the final cost. I might lean towards option C.
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Margarita
5 months ago
I think we need to take the interest rate over treasuries and adjust it for taxes. The 7% plus 150 basis points seems like a good starting point.
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Minna
5 months ago
I remember we calculated the after-tax cost of debt in class, but I'm not sure if I got the formula right for this one.
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Evette
5 months ago
Okay, let me think this through step-by-step. The module needs to require the PrintServiceAPI, and it needs to provide an implementation of the org.printservice.spi.Print interface. I think option B looks like the right approach.
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Susana
5 months ago
Alright, time to put my Scrum knowledge to the test. I'll review each option and try to spot the one that doesn't align with the characteristics of a sprint.
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